January business gives Tottenham edge over top four rivals

Tottenham Hotspur did not bring in a lot of new players in January; however, Spurs did enough to strengthen their position in the top four race. 

Tottenham did more to create space in the team than they did adding new players. They only brought in two players, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski, but saw numerous leave the club for the remainder of this season. Spurs may have lost more players than they gained, but the team was not getting much from the departing contingent. If Bentancur and Kulusevski can get significant minutes and contribute, Tottenham will be pleased with their transfer period results.

Whether or not Bentancur and Kulusevski can contribute to the cause will ultimately determine how successful this window was for Tottenham. That outcome will largely be determined by how much Bentancur and Kulusevski play and how high Spurs finish in the league. And if the window is any indication, Spurs are in pole position to take fourth place.

Heading into the international break and the end of the transfer window, six teams were within eight points of one another, all fighting for that coveted fourth-place position. Manchester United sits in fourth, but with three of the five teams chasing holding one or more games in hand, fourth place is still well and truly up for grabs.

Tottenham have the edge when looking at incoming transfers for all six teams.

Manchester United loaned out four players and only got Tahith Chong back from Birmingham. With Anthony Martial and Donny van de Beek‘s moves and potential legal problems for Mason Greenwood, United is in a weaker position than they started the year. Like some Spurs players who left, one could argue that it is addition by subtraction, but most teams like addition by addition, something United failed to accomplish.

West Ham United made a little noise and almost pulled off a big move in their pursuit of Raphina from Leeds. However, when all was said and done, West Ham got two players back from loans, turned around and sent those same two players back out. Conor Coventry came from Peterborough and went again to MK Dons. Frederik Alves returned from a loan with Sunderland and left on a permanent deal.

For West Ham, not losing Declan Rice was probably a win in-and-of-itself, but new players certainly would help their cause as the team with the most games played of all six chasing fourth.

Just as Spurs moved several players out this winter, so too did their north London rivals, Arsenal. Arsenal lost six senior players during the window without any new players coming in. The Gunners did sign centre-back – Auston Trusty – from Colorado in the MLS, but Trusty will stay in the states on loan for the remainder of the season.

Like United, it may be a case of addition by subtraction with Arsenal; however, they will have to rely heavily on the academy for depth if players go down.

Wolverhampton signed three new players. However, two of the three, Hayao Kawabe and Sang-bin Jeong, went immediately out on loan. Only Chiquinho arrived, and it seems unlikely that 21-year-old Portuguese winger will make up for the loss of Adama Traore to Barcelona.

Brighton was the most active of all the teams vying for the last Champions League spot, moving nine players away from the club, although a couple of the moves were repeat loans. Importantly Brighton held on to some of their most coveted assets and brought in a new centre-forward in 25-year-old Deniz Undav from Belgium club Union SG.

Undav may be the most significant signing outside of Spurs’ two signings, as Undav is a proven goal scorer. Although it is in the Belgium Jupiler League, Undav has scored 18 goals and assisted 9 for Union SG this season in 25 appearances. Undav has scored five braces this season and enjoyed a four-goal match.

However, the Jupiler League is a miles off the Premier League and Tottenham signed two proven Serie A players in Kulusevski and Bentancur. In looking at those signings side by side with the club’s main rivals, Tottenham’s chances at securing fourth are promising.